May 2012
May 13th, 2012 - Remember me as a great designer of t-shirts -- for you see, pretty soon for the first time since 2007, I shall be selling custom merchandise! That's right, folks; some of you older Brunkamaniacs who remember the early days of Baronvonbrunk.com might recall my old store that sold packs of black and white BVB stickers. Times have changed, and now that I'm a successful, refined artist with a real career, I'm launching a new line of custom screen-printed neon t-shirts and stickers featuring self-made vector graphics of my Nintendoformers:
You know you want one. Or two. Or ten.
As mentioned on my Tumblr page, I’m going to splurge the money and get all sorts of extra colors and materials used in these designs — notably the glow-in-the-dark and fluorescent ink! Everything you see that appears to be lime green [on Domaster] shall have a layer of glowing ink over top of it, and everything gray shall possibly have metallic glitter or silver on it. I can’t name a definite date as to when these will be for sale, but probably within the next months or so, and the unit cost will be between $15-25, assuming the production costs aren’t too high. Remember, I’m not out to get rich, I’m out to slap my artwork on the chest of every decent geek in the nation! I'm also trying to partner with local screen printers in New York City to keep everything local, and to put some local artists to work. If you're a screen printer in the five boroughs, definitely contact me and tell me if you can lend a hand with getting these bad boys printed! First things first, though: since stickers are a helluva lot cheaper to get printed en masse, you'll see the them on sale here first before shirts go into production. You could see stickers for sale on this site as early as the beginning of June, so stay tuned and check back for the eventual Store of Justice!
And once again, be sure to support my Game Boy Transformer on CUUSOO. . .
Supporting this project requires absolutely NO money donations whatsoever -- all it takes is simply joining the site (or logging in with Facebook), clicking "support", and leaving the brief feedback! If I can get at least 10,000 supporters, LEGO will personally review this item for being mass-marketed as a real toy for sale, mass produced, legally licensed and all!
Have you picked up the latest May 2012 issue of Nintendo Power? Have you seen my two-page interview in the back!? No!? Then head over to my news page to see some information on it, as well as a special transcript of the original email-based interview between the Nintendo Power editor and me (before it was streamlined for the publication).
-Baron von Brunk
May 1st, 2012 - Welcome, fellow Brunkamaniacs, and behold, the new Baronvonbrunk.com! I have lots of exciting news to cue you all in on since we left off previously, so grease up your eyeballs and plunge directly into the world of Brunk!
For starters, the site is obviously now completely redone and much flashier than before. I also got rid of a few sections, added some new things and made everything better than ever, whilst maintaining that typical Brunk charm!
I'd like to brag, if I can: I am featured in the May 2012 issue of Nintendo Power -- that's right, you heard me! Chances are, some of you newer folks found this site through that aforementioned interview, or perhaps you're a regular visitor -- regardless, I never cease to disappoint you; and thank you to all of the fans and little Brunksters who've been supportive over the years! But anyway, my interview chronicles my recent internet exploits of moderate viral fame since the past few months -- which includes (but isn't limited to) my NES Zapper pistol Transformer, the LEGO Mario 3 airship, and finally, the Game Boy Transformer! All three entities have achieved their own respective fame and lit up these internets indeed.
In regards to the Game Boy Transformer, I've received overwhelmingly high demands to publish a custom instructional guide and parts list -- so fear not, folks, for I have the master source online:
View it on Instructables -- with the entire guide, parts list, and links to download the custom Game Boy labels!
And you're interested in potentially seeing this sold in stores? I've got that covered as well! Simply check out the CUUSOO page and support it! Supporting this project requires absolutely NO money donations whatsoever -- all it takes is simply joining the site (or logging in with Facebook), clicking "support", and leaving the brief feedback!
If I can get at least 10,000 supporters, LEGO will personally review this item for being mass-marketed as a real toy for sale, mass produced, legally licensed and all! All it takes is for you to show your support! We've already gotten this far, so now let's work together and make the best from the best!
In other LEGO news, check out my totally badass Super Mario Brothers question block nightlight!
See it on Tumblr, see it on Instructables, see it on MOCpages, and see it on DeviantArt!
Inspired by the lovely geeky burlesque/cosplay girl Luna Chase of New Jersey, this quaint little project is a nifty little item that accents my attic apartment!
All sorts of new little LEGO projects and such have also been added to my respective sites, so head over to my main Tumblr page and pay me some respect! I might just follow back if you're nice enough. . .
Now, here comes the bad news that you might have deduced already: the cartoons page is gone -- dead gone.
"WAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!"
To be honest, all of my cartoons were created many years ago when my skills were weak and unrefined, and I had little foresight of my inevitable career as a professional designer -- in other words, everything made between 2005-2009 was for lack of better words, done simply for shits & giggles at the time (e.g. the SPEWOMorg being an inside joke from high school, JSTMK being an abandoned game idea from 2002). All in all, I planned to eventually hone my skills and make a more realistic type of animation in preparation for film festivals. Back in those days, all of my cartoons were done with cheap, simple motion tweens and limited animation, drawn with a mouse and with imports of JPGs and copyrighted characters/music. As of now, I work as a real graphic artist, I own a really spiffy computer, a nice graphics tablet, and I've gotten much better as an all-around designer -- with that said, I plan on making high-quality animated short films (with a style akin to classic Nickelodeon) to market on DVDs and film festivals. I mean, as much as many of you are fans of my work solely because of my early web toons on Newgrounds (from back in '06), you have to realize I can't market DVDs or short films that contain Sephiroth or Ganondorf! From now on, all of my cartoons shall be longer, frame-by-frame (like Disney or Warner Bros.) and using only 100% original characters and music!
However, I did provide a link to one of my most famous cartoons of all time: Masters of Doom - The Animated Series, as it has historical relevancy for both myself, Reel Splatter, John Romero, and David Kushner [the author] -- ergo, a link to a nostalgia article about MODTAS is on the side of this page. There, you'll see the cartoon itself, and you can read briefly about its creation during 2005-06, as well as some info on the book that inspired it. If you'd like to see my toons in their heyday, you'll have to go to Newgrounds.com and search for Baron von Brunk -- and some of you newer fans to whom have only recently found out about me may be shocked as to what you'll see!
As for future cartoons, I'll be collaborating with my childhood best friend Skot Shaub of Testosteroso, and doing some toons of his wacky caliber. To give you an idea as to what's in store: I'll be recycling some various plot synopses of my abandoned cartoons, notably my He-Man spoof featuring baloney sandwiches and bad fast food puns! Other toons will borrow various elements and inside jokes from my childhood, to ensure pure originality, and no more copyrighted characters and/or movie references!
"Don't do it Kevin Bacon. . . IT'S A TRAAAAAAPP!!"
Tell me what you think of my new site renovation! Become a fan of me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter (and I might follow back), and once again, please support my Game Boy Transformer on LEGO CUUSOO!
-Baron von Brunk
March 2012
March 13th 2012 - Tell the world the internet belongs to me -- again! First came Plasmashock, the transforming NES Zapper. Then came the hype and excitement of my massive Super Mario 3 airship "The Fireflower!" Now, once again I granted the wishes of every true video game fan and LEGO sculpter alike. . .
Behold!
"Laserbeak -- er, um, I mean Tetrawing, you tinfoil turkey!"
That's right, folks, the newest Transformers/Nintendo/LEGO crossover is here at last, and although just a few mere days old, it's already snowballing rapidly as a viral picture, and gaining plenty of attention across the web! I named this robot Domaster, as an amalgamaton of "Dot Matrix with Stereo Sound", and his avian buddy is called Tetrawing, as coined by New York burlesque girl Dangrr Doll! I spent about a month or so working on these truly geeky robots, and of course the final step was printing the custom water-slide decals for making authentic Nintendo and Game Boy logos. Below are plenty of links to see this bad boy in its entirety:
See it on Instructables (which got me a free premium membership & a front page feature!)
Due to the overwhelmingly high demand for me to post its instructions, I decided to aid my fellow LEGO craftsmen: this coming weekend, I'm going to record a special video with Mike Lombardo of Reel Splatter Productions in Lancaster, PA -- in which I'll demonstrate its transformation cycles! Afterwards, I'll tear the whole Game Boy robot apart and take photos for instructional references, so that you can make your own versions! Hell, feel free to swap the colors to make a Nintendo "Play It Loud" era colored Game Boy, or even try to follow my example to make a smaller version for a transforming Game Boy Pocket/Color!
March 3rd 2012 - Brunkamania is running wild, brother!
How'd you all like my airship? Did I not dazzle you!? Well, my creative savvy and dedication ultimately caused the project to go viral -- and garnering the attention of some interesting people from CNN to Kotaku to Nice Peter! Check my news page to see some select articles which proudly flaunt my giant ship in all its glory. By the way, the CNN article in particular has the grand interview where I spew off my childhood passion for the Super Mario game franchise. You're bound to shed a tear.
No pesky plumbers can wrestle with this brute.
All in all, the ship's been reblogged hundreds of times from mine and other folks' Tumblr pages. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it, as now I'm pleased to announce my plan to hopefully donate it to the Nintendo World Store in the Rockefeller Plaza in New York. I'm going to be a part of Nintendo history one way or another!
In other LEGO news, I'm almost entirely done building my next Transformers/Nintendo crossover -- a transforming Game Boy with Tetris cartridge! Check out my Instructables page to see what sort of projects I'll be rolling out next.
Last weekend, my good pal Mike Lombardo of Reel Splatter Productions came up to New York to visit me for his 25th birthday, and in doing so, we double-dipped on tickets and caught both shows of the "Adventures of Pete & Pete" reunion at the Bowery Ballroom!
Toby Huss (far right), a.k.a. Artie: The Strongest Man in the World!
The Pete patriarch, Don Wrigley!!
Seeing the cast and creators of one of my favorite childhood shows definitely completed the circle of my nostalgia. Getting tickets for the first show meant succumbing to the wrath of the wretched StubHub scalpers several weeks ago, but when a few tickets remained at the door for show #2, we said "fuck it" and came back a second time! We mingled with all of the original actors/actresses (sans Endless Mike Hellstrom and Nona F. Mecklenberg, as their actors have gone off to major Hollywood/TV roles), got our DVD boxsets autographed and gave our respect to the two creators, Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi! By the way, Syd Straw, a.k.a. Ms. Fingerwood even gave us a free copy of one of her newest CDs! Check here to see a YouTube video of the world premiere live act of little Pete's fictional band "The Blowholes", featuring Marshall Crenshaw on guitar! All in all, things aren't so bad on Bowery.
The next night, we went to the IFC West Village theater and saw a film screening of John Carpenter's "They Live", starring Rowdy Roddy Piper! Unfortunately, the movie ticket didn't include complimentary sunglasses to allow us to see through the subliminal messages. CONSUME. BUY POPCORN FROM THE LOBBY. IFC T-SHIRTS ON SALE DOWNSTAIRS.
Head over to Cracked.com to see some recent Photoplasty victories, notably my winning of three entry slots in the contest titled "Video Games As Understood by Old People", in which I claimed victory for photos #18, #5 and #4!
Is this that "Game Cube" thing you kids wanted for X-Mas?
I can't be the only one who had a totally racist grandpa.
Oh man, I'm funny.
-Baron von Brunk
February 2012
February 19th 2012 - The impossible has been proven possible thanks to my dedication, patience, engineering savvy (and disposable income), as I have finally completed my massive 8,000-piece LEGO replica of a Koopa airship from Super Mario Brothers 3 -- "The Fireflower!" Click on the picture below to see the huge Tumblr update, with tons of new photos taken by my friend Roz! Feel free to post links to the airship project on as many blogs as you please, and I'm aiming for maximum exposure!
This ship is bigger than Jesus.
Hopefully we can get this bad boy in a public art exhibit in SoHo soon, as I'd definitely like to show it off as much as possible in public! In other LEGO-related news, I'm in the developmental stages of building a partner for my recent Transformers/Nintendo/LEGO crossover: a transforming GameBoy with a miniature Tetris game that also transforms! The previous NES Zapper robot resembled Megatron or Shockwave, and naturally, this new toy will greatly resemble Soundwave and Laserbeak. Meanwhile, I'm also working on building a stained-glass LEGO lamp of a Super Mario question block, as seen in the photos below:
(although clearly I'm assembling a small legion of Koopa Troopas)
I keep it so real, even my hammers are made of LEGO!
Keep checking back for updates, and feel free to follow me on Twitter or become a fan of my page on Facebook! I welcome all new friends. By the way, I now have a profile on MOCpages as well. I shan't disappoint you, Brunkamaniacs!
In the world of Cracked.com, I've won my share of honorable mentions in various Photoplasties!
"Suck it down!"
| "If Tattoos Could Talk" | 4th and 5th place |
| "Smart Phone Apps We'll See in the Future" | 2nd place |
| "When Video Game Characters Finally Snap" | 3rd & 16th place |
| "Painfully Honest Valentine's Day Cards." | 7th place |
| "24 Famous Paintings (with Dialogue Included)" | 24th place |
In the world of Reel Splatter, I'm pleased to announce Mike Lombardo's victory in getting his short film "Long Pig" a featured movie in the forthcoming Louisville Fright Night Film Festival in Kentucky! Way to go, us!
February 8th 2012 - You wanted some totally whizzo balls-deep updates to the max³!? Look nay further labias and genitals, because I have some jolly good news for the masses!
To begin, let me preface by stating that my recent lack of activity was caused the demise of my laptop's harddrive, which is currently undergoing repairs. Don't worry, loyal Brunkamaniacs: moments before its death, I purchased a new 2TB harddrive and backed up all of my music, drawings, porn and other documents of interest. That being said, I'm currently typing this from my office computer at work.
In the world of LEGO, I have made multiple little projects related to Nintendo -- one of which, my NES Zapper-Transformers crossover has received quite a bit of acclaim on these internets, such as being reposted on dozens of game and geek blogs! Check the news page to see various relevant links to this spiffy little project.
Plasmashock: Heroic Nintendobot, Transforms from NES Zapper pistol to robot and back!
Although in my Tumblr page I clearly state that my next project will be a transforming Nintendo Entertainment System replica (akin to Metroplex or Fortress Maximus), I decided my next model will be a transforming GameBoy that highly resembles Soundwave -- and to answer your question, yes, it shall include a miniature transformer buddy akin to Laserbeak -- that turns into a Tetris cartridge!! I've already put in a few orders for pieces, and hopefully I'll get this bad boy engineered by the end of the month.
In other LEGO news, the airship is done!
Baron von Brunk's got a posse.
Now I'm simply making a final touches such as assembling an interactive display stand and a pixelated backdrop. On 2/18/2012, I'm hiring my ladyfriend Roz to come over and photograph the fully-completed airship and its legion of Koopa Troopa minions, and once the high-res images are taken, I can make cool publicity shots and prints for my eventual public art gallery in SoHo, NY!
And one more Mario diorama for the road:
Green warp pipe, floating blocks, and Bullet Bill in mid-cannon blast!!
In And now for something completely different: At the end of February, my cohort Mike Lombardo and I managed to succumb to vicious ticket scalpers in order to acquire access to the Pete & Pete reunion show in Bowery! That's right, you heard me. We weren't able to scrounge up tickets during the first run, but as soon as they announced a second show, we were quick to snatch up some tickets! That being said, we're going to relive our boyhood glee and see our favorite Nickelodeon actors as older folks! This shall be a night to remember!
Take care for now, kids, and remember: Aim for the head.
-Baron von Brunk
January 2012
January 15th 2012 - Hey kids, I'm back and ready to share some exciting news with the world! In the world of LEGO, I have made numerous modifications and additions to my anticipated LEGO Mario airship!
As you can tell from the above photo, my dirty secret is that I hired plumbers as independent contractors for building my ship, and I ended up using those two brothers! Hopefully they don't sabotage the pipes in the men's room. As of now, I'm awaiting more packages of LEGO parts to finish the ship and its interactive table diorama (containing several Koopa Troopa minifigs)! With any luck, I'll finish building the ship by the end of January, and it's a major possibility that I'll be able to display this bad boy at a public art exhibition in SoHo, NY. First things first, though (aside from actually building this ship) is getting my ladyfriend Roz to lend her assistance as a photographer to take really nice professional pictures of my completed ship in order to make promotional material.
Being able to get a real art show in SoHo of all places is a pretty big fucking deal. I'm serious -- this must be done, people! Keep checking back for updates, and don't be afraid to click on that "like" button atop my Facebook fan page or perhaps the "follow" icon on Twitter to see more information and such for potential gallery dates! Also, here's a sneak peek at another LEGO project of mine. . .
Let's see if you can correctly identify what I'll be building. HINT -- the answer can be found in my DailySingle interview.
In the world of Reel Splatter, our main man Mike Lombardo finally finished and published the heavily-anticipated gory comedy "Long Pig", now online and about to go straight to the film festivals! This movie was filmed on location in my former men's room, back when I lived in that cramped little house in Lancaster City in the summer of 2009! I personally didn't star in this movie, since at the time of its production I was working third shift and therefore unable to stay up and act out any parts. Regardless of my absense, this short film is truly whizzo indeed, and chock full of that sort of splatter-friendly magic you all love!
. . . Can you survive it?
Mike Lombardo even had a special showing of the movie at his house, and to kick it off he personally commissioned me to design a custom 6-foot banner to wave proudly!
These colors don't run -- oh wait; that's specifically what they do.
In other news, take a mosey on over to my news section to see how I placed in a few Cracked.com Photoplasty contests. Not bad, if I must say so myself!
Atticus Finch -- er, um , Dredd is THE LAW!!
For those of you who enjoy my amusing anecdotes and ramblings via my blog, I'm guessing you're wondering why I left off a few months back with some sort of promise of a new entry "one week later" -- when it hasn't been updated since November! Well, as you might be able to guess, as I finished publishing that blog in question (episode 1), I immediately went into production to construct my LEGO Super Mario 3 airship, and have been quite busy with that since then -- in addition to my usual time-consuming career as a graphic designer. However, last month I did in fact deliver a small spoken-word performance about my youthful attempts to build airships! The event took place at the Greenpoint Heights bar in Brooklyn, NY, along with my cohorts Heidi & Bambi Galore. I did manage to use my camera to have my particular speech recorded, but unfortunately the quality is rather bad, ergo I shan't upload it until it's been possibly edited to fix the muffled sound. We're looking forward to doing another show of the "Quest of the Story" -- so once again, fan me or follow me to get a ringside seat for all the updates!
While you're at it, be sure to pay a visit to Epic Win Burlesque, their proprietor Nelson "Charming Trickster" Lugo, and a new sideshow/burlesque venture called "The Sharkbite Sideshow", and do your best to support 'em!
With that said, this February are you ready to get down & nerdy!?
Guess who designed that atomic logo; I'll give you a hint, his name rhymes with Baron von Brunk!
Check out Epic Win & Nelson Lugo's experimental new live event forum, The Spoken Nerd! A truly nerdy event for nerds, by nerds! Head on over to the Facebook event page to get the latest details and such, and make sure to follow all those in charge. The first event kicks off next month, so be sure to RSVP in the earliest stages to get in on the ground floor! Who knows; you might even be able to volunteer to give a lecture at a future event!
Oh, and one last thing before I go back to doing whatever it is I do for a living: I promise (for real for-real) to add a new beard image to my Beard of the Week page -- which apparently should be aptly retitled "Beard of the Month" due to my inactivity. Settle down. Give me a break, Jesse: It's hard to be a graphic designer, a baron, a master craftstman and a gigolo simutaneously -- especially in this busy town. Look, I don't get paid to sit around and take useless photos of my slightly-changing facial hair styles, damn it.
December 2011
December 22nd 2011 - It's that time of year again where we waste money on useless crap and stuff our innards with excess amounts of sustenance! In other words, yule love the updates in store right now, so grease up your eyeballs and plunge right into the world of Brunk yet again, Brunkamaniacs!
For starters, I was officially given my own Daily Single interview, which is quite frankly, one helluva badass read!
Share it on Facebook and spread the word!
How's my LEGO Super Mario 3 airship coming along? I'm glad you asked. . .
And the Baron said, "Let there be light!"
Using a 12v 6 Watt light bulb powered by a 9v battery, I was successfully able to efficiently illuminate the inside if the captain’s room. Behind the room is a secret annex where I’ll install a mini MP3 player that plays songs via micro SD cards — and to answer your questions, yes, I plan on looping the airship theme constantly when this is unveiled! So far, this bad boy has well over 5,000 LEGO pieces total. Egad!
The captain's room containing mosaics of classical artwork.
Recently, my good buddy Dave Bishop helped point me in the proper direction of potentially getting this whole airship display shown in a public art exhibit in SoHo, NY! I know, seriously: SoHo. I'll devote a whole table to being one big LEGO-Mario diorama, which is bound to bring excitement to all of the loyal geeks in the New York metro area. Stay tuned for further updates, folks. In the meantime, I leave you with a new sculpture of Ludwig von Koopa that I built recently. . .
He was always personally my favorite Koopaling.
December 5th 2011 - Hey kids, get ready for my photographic coverage of the awesomely decadent Batman: The Animated Series Harley Quinn burlesque show, courtesy of my main man Nelson Lugo along with the folks of Vaudeville Nouveau and the WorkShop Theater Company! Take a peek at the album on Facebook, or head over to my Flickr page to see the debauchery which ensued. . .
Dangrr Doll can call me "Mister J" any day!
In LEGO news, I have some swell updates: To start, I've been making a helluva lot of progress on my Super Mario Bros. 3 doomship, and even decided to rig its command bridge with wiring to make the stained glass window light up like a Tiffany lamp! Yes, it shall be badass beyond your wildest geeky dreams. If I play my cards right, I just may place it into a public art gallery for a First-Friday exhibit, along with a giant table's worth of Mario-related LEGO projects (such as my giant plunger sculpture)! By the way, I'm also building a custom LEGO figure of a certain Koopa kid -- although I shan't reveal which one it is; but I will give you a hint -- we have similar names (sort of).
This ship is coming together like one of Hannibal's plans. I love it when that happens.
Oh, and dig my custom Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull minifigure. . .
"Thick as a LEGO Brick!"
A new, totally bitchin' beard style photo is now in my Beard of the Week page as well! The HD of my new camera really captures my rampant pores and whiskers, who seem to have a life of their own. Also, be sure to pay a visit to my news page to see the scoop on some of my notably great Photoplasty submissions to Cracked.com contests!
And in Reel Splatter news: Mr. Lombardo finally decided to get his act together and finish his long-awaited project "Long Pig" for the first time in over two years! That's right, folks, another Reel Splatter movie is actually about to be released soon, and let me just say this -- it was filmed on location in Baron von Brunk's former bathroom! Stick around for Long Pig, coming soon to a YouTube near you!
. . . Can you survive it?
November 2011
November 14th 2011 - Sweet merciful updates!
Now that my 27th annual birthday extravaganza has come to pass a few weeks back, I must say that I am officially a New Yorker, since my former Pennsylvania driver's license expired. With that said, I am 27 years old at last, and although I haven't obtained a New York state license, I still consider myself fully assimilated. I spent my 27th birthday at a burlesque show in Manhattan's Lower East Side to see the lovely Legs Malone and Runaround Sue perform one of their enticing Boo! Burlesque performances, with a special appearance by Go-Go Harder -- who found the need to "ejaculate" into my bottle of Guinness! On a related note, tomorrow (the 15th) marks my two-year anniversary of stepping foot on New York soil for the first time -- which was originally planned as a simple sleepover date to meet a girl from OkCupid, but soon turned into an inevitible cross-state migration in the winter when our romantic relationship blossomed (and soon dissolved), and in doing so I decided that New York was the proper city for me to succeed as a creative person.
Speaking of creativity: In LEGO news, I decided to completely ditch the section of my site and instead migrate all of the entries to my Tumblr page. On the Tumblr page, I've created multiple new dioramas and vignettes, notably my tribute to New York City's D20 Burlesque troupe, with special guest Cthulu!
Click on the picture above to see the complete entry!
In other LEGO news, I'm rapidly accruing more and more 2x2 reddish brown round bricks to build a massive replica of a Super Mario Brothers 3 doomship! I plan on having this bad boy span across an entire 6-foot folding table, so prepare for the typical badassery, Brunkamaniacs!
Oh, speaking of flying airships, I recently began a new blog series to chronicle my various aircrafts built amongst my youth. Thus far, part I is about a story taking place in 1993 when I was 8 years old, and attempted to construct a real, working flying version of a Super Mario airship in my backyard -- until my piss-poor knowledge of aerodynamics forced me to scrap the project. Read the exciting tale here, and stick around for another chapter coming soon to a Baronvonbrunk.com near you! Same Brunk channel, same Brunk time.
By the way, what do you folks think of this and possibly this entry for a new Cracked.com contest: "What video game characters do in their off hours?" Both made by me, naturally.
Another Beard of the Week is about to be added very soon, so those of you with a fascination for my fashionable follicle fads fear not fret!
Oh, real quick before I go home: In regards to the little aforementioned blurb about my ex-girlfriend at the top of this update, I'd like to state that I feel as if I'm ready to date again. Dare to take the test?
Octember 23rd 2011 - Just in time for my forthcoming 27th annual birthday extravaganza [of justice], I made a few new multimedia LEGO projects for your viewing pleasure! The first is a diorama which uses starfighters suspended in front of a matte painting, with a blacklight shining, thus creating the illusion of glowing lasers and fire. Please note: This isn't the finalized version of this project; it's mostly a test to see how well my new camera takes pictures under a blacklight and how I can successfully suspend objects like puppets (hence the blank space by the purple asteroids -- which should be filled up with more spaceships and/or astronauts).
Next is a vector illustration of a certain leggy New York burlesque performer to whom I admire from afar! The one and only Ms. Legs Malone:
In other LEGO news, I'm currently building a massive doomship. You know, one of those giant, rickety wooden airships from Super Mario Brothers 3! I can't be the only person here who fantasized about constructing a real, working Mario doomship at some point in their childhood -- right? Right? Well, stay tuned for an image gallery of the proposed Brunkenburg LB-1 airship, as well as an inevitable blog post about my childhood/teenage years' conceptualization of a real flying vessel -- which was eventually rejected in the 2003 Red Bull Flugtag! Stick around for the nuttiness bound to ensue, kids -- coming soon to a Baronvonbrunk.com near you!
Oh, by the way, I got two more tattoos since we last left off! Both done on the same arm as last time, by the same artist [Kristen Fristed] and from the same theme -- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time! The first is an activated Bombchu in motion, whilst the other is an orange 200 rupee gem! I shan't post pictures now, as they're both in that initial scabby skin-peely stage, but eventually you'll see some awesome images of my colorful geeky ink. So far, an attractive Asian girl on the Long Island Railroad thought they were cute, which means I appeal to the right niche market.
Also, I finally came up with a cheap, clever, geeky and offensive Halloween costume idea which shall remain a secret until this weekend, when you'll all see a first-hand glimpse of the wackiness in store! Can you survive it?
One more thing, lest we forget: I have a Tumblr page now for my LEGO projects. So far, lots of folks enjoy it -- by that, I mean the adbots do.
Octember 10th 2011 - Grease up your eyeballs and plunge right in, Brunkamaniacs! With my new light rigging (photo tent, 250 Watt bulbs) I'm making great usage of my recently-purchased Sony 16 megapixel camera, thus I created several new LEGO vignettes and custom minifigs! I plan on creating many, many more custom projects within the near future, so keep checking back for the updates you hold dear. All I have to say is, one of my new minifigs is going to SHOCK the world. . .
See the whole story here!
This week begins a new wave of busy-ness (I'm trying not to confuse the process of being busy with the term "business"), from another tattoo session this Thursday, a Saxon concert in Times Square that same night (I know, seriously), and a possible visit to the Epic Win Burlesque DC vs. Marvel striptease this weekend.
By the way, I made a submission to a Cracked.com "photoplasty" contest called If Classic Disney Movies Were Given Gritty R-Rated Reboots -- ala Predator! I've got quite a bit of competition, but with any luck, I'll make it to the finals. And in Facebook news, I changed the name of my fan page to avoid being called a pompous, megalomaniac (which happens often). Feel free to "like" it and tell your family to say nice things about my hard work. It rules.
Oh, and one more thing: This is actually a September update, but with my busy-ness (there's that word again) involving the recently-passed NYC Burlesque Fest, I neglected to inform the masses of my recent blog entry, which was actually written last year, but now reworded and migrated this current site. I'm writing another one soon in the same tangent of subject matter, only involving my long history of conceptualizing airships since childhood to teenage years -- when I unsuccessfully entered the Red Bull Flugtag in 2003! Stay tuned, kids.
. . . Can you survive it?
Octember 4th 2011 - The New York City Burlesque Festival came and passed, and quite frankly, it was the highlight of my year thus far! It was four straight days of me running around to shows, taking pictures, meeting purdy gals and updating my Facebook/website like a maniac! Since the process of uploading photos and placing captions is very tedious in itself, let alone resizing each individual picture from my new camera's 16GB memory stick, I've been putting the whole bunch of pictures on my Facebook fan page's photo albums instead of making individual sub-pages in my image gallery section. At the precise moment I'm currently typing this, only the photosets from days 2 and 3 are online, and eventually within this week, you'll be able to see the grand compilation of images from the final day, the Golden Pasties Awards! In the meantime, here are a few select pictures that sparked my fancy:
The notorious, impish B.B. Heart (Miss Coney Island) and her world-famous Nosferatu routine!
The adorable Anja Keister, a true "pin"-up girl!
Miss Amber Ray and her delightful craftmaking (her eyelashes are almost as big as mine)!
Little Brooklyn, my favorite busty short-haired chick in the (Sea)world!
Maggie Thatcher took time from her busy schedule to pose nude for us!
Legs Malone, whose third wish unfortunately wasn't for a guy with mutton chops and LEGO tattoos.
All in all, I had a truly wonderful time at this aforementioned festival, which was made possible with kind support from viewers like you! By the way, this Friday will have a special Lewis Carroll themed burlesque show at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. I've already got my ticket -- have you got yours!?
In LEGO news, I've recently gotten the hang of my new Sony 16 megapixel Cybershot, and now I'm gradually setting up a professional light rigging in my house for better photos of my vignettes and dioramas. In previous photos, you'll notice all sorts of imperfections such as camera noise, flash glare, mismatched or muddy colors, and poor saturation effects. Now I'm going to make all sorts of better looking pictures of some exciting new custom minifig portraits including famous burlesque girls, a few classic wrestlers and perhaps even the long-awaited decal version of yours truly!
In the realm of Reel Splatter, Mr. Lombardo finally decided to get back into filmmaking by collaborating with Slightly Strange Studios to create a new short called "The Stall", which is bound to do to public restrooms what Jaws did to beaches!
. . . Can you survive it?
September 2011
September 30th 2011 - Welcome back, Brunkamaniacs! My long-awaited photo album of the Coney Island Film Festival is now available on my website, and also ready on my Facebook fan page as well!
At the precise moment I'm currently typing this, I just got back from the first night of the New York Burlesque Festival which had a teaser party at the Bell House in Park Slope, Brooklyn. With 23 consistent performers on stage as well as free shots of vodka with glowsticks in the cups, I certainly had a fun night indeed. Tonight is the premiere party also in Brooklyn, and tomorrow and Sunday are the awards ceremonies for the coveted Golden Pasties. Which gals will take home the gold!? You'll just have to stick around and find out, same Brunk channel, same Brunk time. Remember folks: I withstood the wrath of Ticketmaster's totalitarian-esque policies to purchase tickets for all four days of excitement, action, thrills, chills, and bone-crushing spills of burlesque leading up the Golden Pasties Awards this SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!! BE THERE BE THERE BE THERE!!
Oh, speaking of this Sunday; I stumbled upon a rather peculiar article involving the auctioning of a secluded island off the coast of the Bronx! For those of you at home just tuning in, it's been an ongoing serious-but-not-serious-yet-serious plan/dream of mine to live on a private island somewhere near the New York boroughs, whereupon I'll build a secret death fortress and sail to work every day on a viking longboat. I'm attending the auction this Sunday for the useless rock in the middle of the sea, and hopefully no rich playboys show up to waste their money "for the hell of it", and with any luck, I end up purchasing this bad boy all to myself like in that episode of The Simpsons when Bart buys an abandoned factory for $1. Fortunately the island's not shaped like a skull, or else the bidding war at New York City Hall amongst a mob of evil supervillians would be worse than Black Friday.
And finally, my new tattoos are complete and still scabby/healing from the extensive coloring work done earlier this week!
On my right forearm near my elbow:
A late 1980s LEGO Castle forestman minifig!
On my left forearm:
In conjunction with my Lens of Truth tattoo, Kristen added a few rupees! The total Hylian value is 75.
Later next week, I'm going to add a few more rupees and finally an active bombchu crawling up my arm! This is going to rock.
And one more thing: Today marks my last day riding the cursed god-forsaken 7-Train to Manhattan, as I finally sprung the money and purchased a 30-day unlimited Long Island Railroad pass to Penn Station. Faster commutes and fewer dirty trains filled with obnoxious homies and homeless make a happy Baron.
September 25th 2011 - The updates just don't stop with me, do they! Especially with my rampant whiskers.
First things first: I recently purchased a beefed-up 16 megapixel optical lens zoom Sony digital HD camera to take better pictures of my LEGO vignettes and photoshoots of burlesque dancers. So far I'm still trying to get used to it and mess around with the settings, and naturally I haven't quite perfected the adjustments to get perfect shots. Don't worry, kids, we'll get some mighty fine images soon.
Just last night I ran amok at the 11th annual Coney Island Film Festival and had a helluva good time at the after-party! Seeing so many awesome short films and bizarre animations of my similar style was more or less a kick in the ass for me to get back to making cartoons yet again, and combine my graphics tablet in conjunction with my infinite imagination to make something fun and original for the film festival circuit. After the movies, I went to a decent burlesque performance at the Coney Island Aquarium and put my new camera to the test to get some cool shots of the dancers: Amelia Bareparts, Justina Flash, Dottie Dynamo, Little Brooklyn, Lady Hourglass and many other attractive gals, along with the sideshow human blockhead host Adam the First Man (to whom was actually my bizarro doppelganger). After the party was a special screening of the film "The Warriors", originally set in Coney Island, and shown on a big screen mini-theater for us. Yes, you heard me correctly: I saw The Warriors in a theater in its hometown; your feelings of jealously are perfectly apt.
As soon as I sort through all 200+ of these images and crop them, they'll be placed on my image gallery for a grand photo documentary! Check back later this week sometime, folks!
Here's what's in store. . .
Yes folks, Lady Hourglass in fact on a real bed of nails.
Speaking of which, this week kicks off the start of the big New York Burlesque Festival, to which I shall make appearances at all events and chronicle the gals via pictures and possible video interviews! Just look for the stars 'n bars tie guy, and you can find me.
Now comes some more custom LEGO work:
"All in all it's just a LEGO Brick in the wall."
Stick around for more custom LEGO minifigs and projects I'll be working on throughout this week, and check back on my Facebook and Twitter pages for frequent updates. A little hint at what's in store for some new minifigures: A wrestler that's bound to SHOCK your world, "The Mouth of the South", and a certain man running wild with 24'' pythons, brother! And on the subject of minifigs, tomorrow (Monday) I'm getting my favorite tattoo artist Kristen to etch on my arm yet another LEGO figurine, this time much larger than my previous one and of the Castle theme persuasion.
Can you dig it. . . Sucka!?
September 17th 2011 - I hope you all enjoyed the total site transformations as of last week's huge update -- because I'm not done yet, and much like George Lucas, I've constantly been tweaking my work out of minor dissatisfactions! Notably, I removed the entire image gallery from the art section and moved it to the very top navigation link area, next to "Beard of the Week" and my upcoming events page. Also recently created is a page for any mentions of me and my site in the news/media, which believe it or not, happens more often than not -- but at the time being, I only have one said entry, as opposed to the dozens of minor TV mentions of my name in the past. You get the point: It's still starting off!
The Facebook fan page is doing pretty decent for just being created a few mere days ago, but it's still not as populated by as many fans as it should be! Get busy, guys. Like it already and tell me my owl painting is spectacular! Don't make me use the spank ray.
But here's more positive news: Last night into this morning I attended the 9th Annual Miss Coney Island Burlesque Pageant which you can have a ringside view of right here! As mentioned in the album itself, half of the photos were taken in extreme darkness situations where my only means of making them visible was to totally turn up the contrast and saturation in Photoshop. Give me a break, Jesse.
Later some time today after I've awakened from my 14 hour Saturday slumber, I plan on photographing and uploading new pictures of a recent LEGO mobile suit mecha built a few days ago. In the meantime, here's a teaser image of what to expect (hover your mouse over the picture to hear the theme song for my army of minions):
Baron von Brunk has got a posse. Roll over the picture -- seriously, it's pretty badass!
So check back in the LEGO Page later tonight or tomorrow or whenever you feel like or whenever you get released from jail or whenever Time Warner repairs your shitty broadband service. Whichever comes first. Same Brunk channel, same Brunk time!
. . . Can you survive it?
UPDATE 9/18 - I finished the Blacktron II LEGO project, which means you can disregard any jibba jabba in the above paragraph (except for rolling your mouse over the picture to hear the theme song)! This new creation hails & kills with thy power of 10,000 RoboCops! Also, take a peek at DeviantArt and leave some positive [negative] feedback.
And while we're on the discussion of LEGO and burlesque. . .
Brooklyn Babydoll and some nameless tophatted emcee!
September 10th 2011 - Hold on and grease up your eyeballs for the greatest website update of this year thus far! Brunkamania is truly running wild this time, as I have a grand plethora of assorted and delightful updates. For starters, the entire site's layout and infrastructure has been significantly redeveloped and gut-renovated, as you can clearly see. A lot of the flash interfaces have been removed and replaced with more professional Photoshop layouts for site navigation, whilst a lot of the basic framesets are still included.
For a more detailed list, here's the general changes as follows:
Headquarters (home) - At the bottom of the main window -- this window, dummy -- you'll see a little shoutbox in lieu of a guestbook! Use it wisely, folks, and cut out the spam and repetitive messages! Quite frankly, when I had a guestbook, I got fed up with 14 year old kids repeatedly posting the same questions over and over and expecting the answer instead of simply e-mailing me. The shoutbox is intended to be a spot to say whatever and make brief correspondences. Also, you'll see instructions how to get your own little avatar if you're ambitious enough!
LEGO Page - The grandest of the grand, this site has gone through a major facelift, with not only the backgrounds and graphics changed, but also with new images, custom models, artwork, and even customization tutorials. Take a look at my medieval German Tudor house or work-in-progress robot unicorn!
Contact me - More information is added, such as my Google Voice number, alternate e-mail options, and links to my other online ventures. By the way, my DeviantArt page is finally back online after years of inactivity!
About me - My life story is condensed in the form of several paragraphs chock full of references to The Simpsons and classic rock songs!
FAQ - Many more questions have been addressed, and even a miniature girlfriend quiz was installed in response to hatemail! Can you survive it?
Cartoons page - Not a whole helluva lot of changes, aside from minor layout adjustments. No, the damn last episode of JSTMK is not available; I mean, just a blurb or two about a certain category's history and whatnot.
Art/Design - In each sub-category is a small introduction on the forthcoming set of designs: For example, in the Brunkan Heraldry page, I go into detail with my fascination of medieval style artwork and mosaics, and even include a real photo of my family's coat of arms to explain my usage of heraldic beasts! Be sure to check out some new projects, drawings, and paintings as well. Oh, and lastly I restored a section for my various photographs and absurd images I've stumbled upon over the years. In fact, an entire photo section is now within the realms of the art gallery, including New York City photos, publicity images and pictures of my various antique collections! By the way, a miniature comment box is installed on the bottom of each sub-page of the art section, so that you can critique my work or make complaints about my over-usage of glow-in-the-dark paint!
Links - Many websites and banners are now included to my external sites page, such as events I'll be attending, websites for friends' bands, and even resources for getting shirts/stickers printed ultra cheap! Maybe we can even exchange links too, since I'm a happy jolly elf of a guy.
Blog of Justice - Alright, here's the deal with this section: I rarely blog and write these days, hence the bareness of my old Blogger page (which is now on private). That being said, I did in fact migrate my old blog entries from 2010 to my newly integrated site as well as written several new entries as of recently -- however, due to circumstances which went beyond my control, I opted to make major revisions in my writings for the sake of condensation (abridgements) and a bit of re-wording to avoid sounding like the second coming of Archie Bunker. In other words, if you check out my blog right now, many of the links shan't take you anywhere. Settle down, kids.
New additions!
At the top of each main site you'll see some awesome new features such as Beard of the Week, an Upcoming Events List and a link to my recently-created Facebook fan page! As for the last one, I received quite a bit of requests and inquiries about potentially re-opening my Facebook page which I previously had for six years, but instead, I did the next best thing and made a fan page for you folks to "like" and follow my updates and such! Just don't post stupid crap on my wall. I mean it. No, seriously.
Now that we've taken care of that mess, let's get back to contemporary updates of my personal life...
When we last departed in the never-ending saga of my struggle to survive in a world full of turmoil and illogic, I mentioned breaking ground for a new "secret" company. Things have been going pretty fast, and with that comes the inevitable stress. I still shan't specify anything else of what I'm doing aside from developing consumer electronics in Midtown Manhattan -- as many of the products I've created thus far are patent pending, and ergo secret to only the folks in my company and close inner-circle. You shall be dazzled when they hit the shelves, nonetheless! Here's a clue: Shiny plastic tubes!
By the way, a few days back (September 3rd) I attended a rare comedy performance hosted and organized by David Brockie, a.k.a. Oderus Urgungus of GWAR notoriety! This exciting, gut-wrenching demonstration was called Crack-a-Thon 2011 as held at MF Gallery in Brooklyn, NY! These gentlemen bloodied me up in Allentown, PA in 2008, and it's good to see the Scumdogs of the Universe still holding up after all these years. I stayed for both shows, chatted with Oderus, and took plenty of photos and even a video, all available to see here. On a related note: As mentioned in my links page, I'll be attending Jeff Mach's "Geeky Kink Event" in November for an entire weekend, and of course I shall be dressed in an exceptionally-spiffy series of cosplay outfits which blend the best of steampunk with Danish building blocks. Find out more on my events page. Stay tuned, kiddies!
Baron von Brunk: Too badass for Lancaster!™
©2005-2012 Situs Julius, Baron von Brunk. All contents are property of Julius von Brunk (unless specified).
Official website of "The Baron" Julius von Brunk, a native Pennsylvanian and current New York City resident! The original Amish cowboy, the tattooed LEGO maniac, and the metalhead with mutton chops! Featured in Nintendo Power, CNN Geekout, and recognized as the creator of the massive LEGO Super Mario 3 airship model!
Holy shrapnel!
